


Slender

by TheEquestrianidiot



Category: Gravity Falls, Slender Man Mythos, Slender: The Arrival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-02 01:59:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2795612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEquestrianidiot/pseuds/TheEquestrianidiot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Speak no evil. Only breathe. Hear no evil. Only listen. See no evil. Only darkness. For in darkness are no dreams. Dreams are the founders of lies. With lies comes hope. Hope comes despair. Despair not. It will come for you too. He will always come. No matter how far they try to run or hide, The Faceless one always gets His prey. Always.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_he has no reason_

_for what he does_

_leaving trails of bone and blood_

_without eyes he'll watch and wait_

_he feels no love he feels no hate_

_taller than the trees he hides behind_

_he'll never live he never died_

_he became in the shadows_

_he stalks the light_

_but they never saw him_

_even if it is bright_

_they think im insane_

_tHey ThINk im NoT RiGHt_

_and now im in the darkness_

_AlOne_

_without LiGHt._

/

Candy Chu was the first to disappear.

It was days before her mother was calm enough to tell the investigators any details of all the events leading up to her daughter's vanishing. She wasn't able to recall any strange people hanging around or any strange behavior from the little girl. There seemed to be only one clue; a nightmare that Candy had dreamed three days before her disappearance.

The horrible nightmare had caused the normally quiet girl to awaken screaming at the top of her lungs. Once her mother had calmed her, the crying child had spoken of an impossibly skinny man who seemed to have no face on his stark white head. She'd talked about how he'd seemed to be gesturing towards the Gravity Falls Forest... and how he'd reached for her with tentacles that stretched from his black coat.

One week later, Grenda's parents were in hysterics; Grenda had received the same dream. The authorities scoffed and said that it was a simple case of the child dreaming things she'd heard the adults discussing. They assured the parents, and Gravity Falls as a whole, that there was no link and no danger.

Grenda disappeared three days later.

One of Daniel Corduroys' boy was the next to have the nightmare, and Dipper Pines had spearheaded the investigation himself, know that the cops of the small town would never get the job done properly. He analyzed the boy's recollection for clues, but it soon became clear that there were no clues to be found. His dream was the same as Candy's, the same as Grenda's; the tall, long man with no face and a dark suit. Special security was posted at the young mans home and everyone in town breathed a sigh of relief when the sun rose after the third night.

Daniel's screams let everyone know that they had failed once again.

A week passed and he was gone, vanishing into the void.

The populace of Gravity Falls began to lose it's collective mind. School was cancelled until further notice and the children were barred from leaving their houses unless accompanied by an adult. Suspicious glances were cast this way and that as neighbor suspected neighbor of the heinous kidnappings.

The fear and unrest grew, and as it grew an almost tangible shade of darkness began to cast itself across the quaint town. The shade grew and grew and grew, far past the borders of the town proper...

…all the way to the borders of the small shack that lay on the town outskirts.

/

"Dipper?" Stanford Pines pushed his way into his nephew's room without knocking, trusting that he would be decent. There he was, piling supplies into her backpack. "Now what in the heck are you…?"

"I'm going after her, Grunkle Stan."

The tone in his voice made Stan pause. "Like hell you are!" He crossed the room and pushed the backpack off the bed and onto the floor. The contents spilled; bottles of water, fresh apples, various snacks, plenty of rope, oil, a flash light, some batteries, an old lantern…

He was going into the woods.

He was going after Mabel.

"Dipper, stop. This is crazy."

"What's crazy is that you've already given up on her. She's your niece for God's sake…"

"And it tears me apart that she's gone. But she's gone Dipper. Gone. She's not coming back. The sooner we accept that…"

Dipper sniffed and pushed his supplies back into the backpack. "Yeah, you do that. Meanwhile I'm going to get her back."

"Dipper…"

He left him there, still protesting his departure, but he paused. "I'll bring her back, Grunkle Stan. I swear." He took a deep breath and started down the stairs leading out to the Mystery Shack.

"This isn't the first time this has happened."

Grunkle Stan stalled him. He turned slowly and found the old man looking towards the woods. "What…?"

"Way back when I was a kid, about four or five, I remember my Mom and Dad talking about children having bad dreams. Dreams about a man with no face. A few days after the dream, the children vanished. That's why my family kept moving kept moving until we decided to settle here. We were trying to get away from that . . . . Thing. We came here, bought this land, and we thought we'd be safe." He sighed sadly. "I guess it found us in the end, though."

"Grunkle Stan… what is it?"

"Don't know. Whatever it is, it's old. Older than the God. Older than the Earth itself maybe. It has no conscience, no emotions, only an insatiable hunger; a never-ending urge to feed."

Dipper gulped. "What… what does it eat?"

"Fear. It feeds on fear. And children."

Dipper shuddered and faced the woods. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Don't be afraid. Your fear will only make it bolder. And if you see it… run. Run as fast as you can. And most important of all; never, ever look back."

Dipper nodded and started walking. "I'll be back, Grunkle Stan. Just you wait. I'll be back and I'll have her with me. I swear."

His brisk pace had carried him so far so fast that he never heard Grunkle Stan's reply. "Good-bye Dipper."

/

It watched from the woods, stoic and silent, as he left. No matter. It would find him again. That was it's way.

It would stay here a while longer, shaded in the tall trees. The last few chosen could easily be taken, even from here. It's reach was longer than anyone could possibly imagine.

Here, though, was unfinished business. Someone who had escaped it long ago...

/

Stanford Pines stared at the border of the Gravity Falls Forest. His niece, and soon his nephew, had been taken there, never to return. Soos was gone, albeit reluctantly. He'd done his best to persuade Stan to accompany him, but he'd refused. Gravity Falls was abandoned.

Now there was but to wait. He was done running.

He blinked and it was there, standing just beyond the forest boundary.

He blinked, and it was out of the forest.

He blinked, and it was in the south field.

He blinked, and it was in the garden.

He blinked, and it was at the porch steps.

He blinked.

/

Before him was the wilderness. Dark. Ominous. He and his sister had championed these woods so many times before this, it startled Dipper to think something like this had existed all this time. Assuming it had at all.

Visitors can come at any time.

Dipper rested his steps along the forest edge. What else could be seen past the vague din of green vegetation was a mystery. There was something out there. A predator of sorts. It stalked these woods as an apex to this food chain that was the town of Gravity Falls. All things- humans especially, were subject to its gaze.

It was so quiet.

Dipper felt the air pass him in a mild breeze, yet no sound caressed his ears. Was the elements of nature itself scared of what lurked within? Birds had vanished. Not died, or been found half-devoured, but truly vanished. Gone without a trace. Nests were the only remaining evidence that avian had even presided in the region.

Whatever was going on, it was huge. It wasn't

It wasn't good.

Deep breath. The air felt cold. Odd. His lungs expanded until he could do little more than tremble, and then he exhaled. Time to go.

HONK HONK.

"Gah!" Dipper leapt around, and approaching him from the path that lead to the main road was a dirty green van, worn and well-used. Dipper would have asked who on earth would still be around here, when the town was entirely empty, but he knew that van. He had ridden in it before.

"Dipper!"

Wendy and her gang. The redhead slammed open the side-ways sliding door, which Thompson still in the driver seat whined about briefly. Following her was the inseparable Nate and Lee, then villainous and annoyed looking Robbie, and a surprisingly freaked out looking Tambry, fidgeting with her phone in her fingers, held beside herself.

"Guys," Dipper managed to say.

"Dipper, what the heck are you doing out here alone man?" Wendy demanded, a panic in her eyes the likes Dipper had seen rarely. "We spotted you from the road, just hiking up the hill- it's crazy to be out here alone."

"I know."

"Dude, like, hardcore is one thing," Nate told him, standing next to Wendy, "but this? This is actual _crazy_ crazy."

"So I've been told," Dipper shrugged, unsurprised with their concern. It didn't bother him. He expected anyone he knew running into him having a word or two to stop him. Like it would change a thing.

"Look man," Robbie piped up as well, "fine, you want to play hero? Look cool?"

"Robbie, chill," Wendy nudged him in the gut, but he shrugged her off.

"I've been around stupid long enough to know that's what's going on in your head just by looking at you," Robbie pointed to Dipper, "you got some stupid plan that's inside that stupid mind."

"Nothing's stupid about it," Dipper retorted, pulling around his backpack, and unveiling a scrolled up map, "I have everything in the area, on the map or from my own... sources, "Dipper avoided using the term 'journal', "labeled here. Nothing is slipping by."

"Dude-"

"What are you guys doing here?" Dipper turned the question to them, cutting his red-headed friend short.

"We're... well, we're sticking around," Wendy stated firmly, "and going to..."

She looked around the three of them. Maybe that had been part of a yet-to-be-discussed plan, as she seemed to be begging for an answer as the rest of them. Nothing said, yet all to much was communicated. They had no idea what they were doing. None at all.

"So you want to tell me not to do something just because you don't know what to do?" Dipper lashed out, not feeling for a bunch of scared older kids ordering him around. "Typical."

"Dipper," Wendy looked to him, not taken offense with his aggression, "if we don't know what to do, all of us don't, what do you expect you can do, dude? You're just one guy."

"I'm going to get Mabel back. And then anyone else I can find too."

"See? We tried," Robbie told them quickly, "now, can we go back to the safety of the house? I being close to woods is already bad eno-"

"Robbie!"

The hooded man grumbled as Wendy put a stopper to his words. Stepping away and looking back longingly to the van, Robbie allowed the redhead to give her two cents.

"Dipper... I get you, okay?"

"Really?" He asked incredulously. "I lost Mabel. Okay, I don't really see how you..." Dipper trailed off. He was angry, but not blinded by his loss. Wendy looked to him, sadness in her eyes, the same sadness. They had both lost someone to them.

"I- ugh, look," Dipper retrained his thoughts, desperate to keep his mind set, "I'm doing this. I'm going to find them and get them back. If you're going to try changing that, you'd better just-"

"Come with us for a bit."

Tambry had piped in. All eyes focused on her. "What?" Everyone said, excepting the purple haired girl.

"We're all losing something from this, right? A friend, a family, our entire family, home... maybe what we need is to head somewhere and get a... a plan."

Dipper shook his head, but slowly, as he wanted to shake off the desire to agree. Yes, it made sense. They could hear out what he had been thinking, what he had been plotting and researching and readying himself for all this time. But if he waited, even a bit longer, what if he lost someone else. Each minute could cost a life, a soul.

He didn't even know if they were dead or not.

Time was precious.

But so were allies.

"Okay. Okay, okay," Dipper nodded finally and relieved his friend and crush before him. Not that feelings like that could help right now. They just reminded him of a better time. "You guys have a place to go?"

"Yeah we do," Thompson nodded, "my place. If we're going to hang out, it's the best bet."

"Your car, you house," Nate patted Thompson on the shoulder, "your lead, bud."

Filing into the car was a quick, quiet process. The day was bleak, but not dark. Not yet. A few minutes later, passing by like time had doubled in length, they were walking hurriedly into the darkened, and abandoned home that belonged to Thompsons family. By will of his friends, he had chosen to remain, forsaking the chance to quickly exit the town with his parents. The garage door slowly closed behind the van, and they entered the large garage.

"So dude," Lee said as they clamored back out, "you do have a plan, right?"

"Wouldn't have wandered near the woods without one," Dipper told him, and the others as they gazed towards him while he pulled open his backpack, and began to pile papers on the ground around them, and finally his own journal from his vest. "I'm good with plans."

"Yeah he is," Wendy nodded, "you guys wouldn't believe the stuff he's gotten me out of. Like monsters and stuff. We're talking about the kid who got us out of Dusk Two Dawn, remember?"

"Ugh... I'd rather not use that as a 'plan', Wendy," Dipper trailed off in mid-sentence as he revisited the unpleasant memory. He returned his gaze to Wendy's. "Eh, anyway, as you can see here..."

The collected people looked at what appeared to be a multitude of newspaper clippings from all across Oregon.

"I managed to snag a census from the library before they burned it down. Using it, I was able to keep track of people who disappeared and where they'd come from."

The clippings were all essentially headlines;

FAMOUS CHILD PSYCHIC TAKEN IN THE NIGHT

WEALTHY FAMILY ABSCONDS AFTER DAUGHTER VANISHES

SEARCH FOR YOUNG GIRL CALLED OFF AFTER PARENTS DISAPPEAR

And on they went.

"Going by census information, it' become quite clear that every single resident of Gravity Falls has been taken in the past year."

Tambry's hands shook. "They all ran... and it didn't do them any good at all..."

"It's not just Gravity Falls." Dipper continued. "Portland, Eugene, Salem, Bend, Medford... completely dead. Every resident taken no matter how far they ran. Pendleton, Prineville, Shaniko, The Dalles, Tillamook, Troutdale, West Linn..."

"Jesus, what the fuck is this thing?" Wendy asked, her heart breaking at all the loss and devastation.

Dipper sighed and retracted the page of clippings. He turned the journal's pages to the middle and pulled out a new sleeve. "What do you know about it?"

"Just what my dad told me." Lee took in the scrawled images, mostly done by boys and girls, of the mysterious menace that was killing Oregon. "He said it was old and that it fed on children."

"And fear." Robbie broke in. "Don't forget about fear."

Dipper nodded. "From what I understand, this... this thing has been wandering the earth for at least thousands of years. It's stayed in the shadows, only feeding enough to keep it alive. To us, it was always a boogeyman. A lotta names, one creature."

"Mr. Thin." Wendy muttered.

"Slenderman." Robbie spat.

"The Thin Person." Tambry shuddered.

"The Tall One." Nate added.

"I've taken to calling it the Slender One, myself. Seems appropriate." Dipper chuckled. "Whatever you call it, it was content with it's quiet life... but something changed."

"What?"

Dipper shook his head. "Not sure... but I have a few theories..."

Robbie sighed. "Look, forget why it's doing all this. I wanna know where it is."

"Why?" Thompson asked.

Robbie snorted. "Isn't it obvious? We're taking the fight to it."

Thompson gaped. "But... that's suicide!"

"Nobody's ever gone looking for it." Robbie smiled madly. "Maybe we can throw it off, catch it by surprise."

"To be fair, there was at least one person who went looking for it." Nate said into his cup.

Wendy silenced him with a warning glare. "My brother went alone. We're going together. Now do you know where it is or not?"

Dipper looked up with knowing eyes. "Where it's always been; the Gravity Falls Forest."

The only sound in the silence that followed was Lee's continuing sips.

"But... but why?" Lee resolve faded for a moment.

"Think about it. This thing has wandered to and from all the dark corners of the world because it didn't know any better. What if it found a place that inspired so much fear from people all over? Do you really think it would leave that special place?"

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Tambry caught her cup just before it tipped over.

"Yeah." Nate added. "If it's still in that forest, how is it taking people from all over Oregon?"

"It's stronger now. Stronger than it's ever been." He retracted the page and closed the journal. "It's reach is beyond any of our comprehension."

A mysterious wind seemed to blow through the room and dimmed the candles.

"I'm...I'm going to get some more to drink." Wendy announced. She stood and hurried from the room.

"I'll join you." Tambry hurriedly followed the red headed girl.

Once they were gone, Lee looked to Dipper. "I take it you're still going after it?"

Dipper could only nod.

"Could you do me a favor then?"

Another nod.

"When you find it... if you beat it..."

"When we beat it." Nate interrupted.

Lee ignored her. "Send word that it's over."

Dipper nodded a third and final time. He extended his hand across the table.

With a smile, Lee shook hand with the young detective. "As much as I hope you succeed, Dipper... I hope you don't find it. I'd rather you survive."

/

Tambry peered into the darkness of Wendy's room. She watched as the red head lit a candle and illuminated the walls; they were papered with sketches on the Slender One. "Did you do all these?"

Wendy nodded as she poured another cup of water. "Drawing makes me feel better. Safer, somehow."

Tambry crossed the room and said to the girl, "We're going to stop it."

Wendy smiled sadly. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

The question caught the girl off guard. She headed for the exit, but looked back at Wendy and sighed. "No, I don't. But I'd believe anything... for my mother.

She left Wendy surrounded by the scrawled images. They waved slightly in the ambient air. The sound seemed familiar to Wendy's ears.

It sounded like laughter.

/

When the car and it's travelers crossed Gravity Falls' later, the sun was just beginning it's descent on the horizon. The fading light gave the town a mystic, otherworldly life. The windows and doors remained as tightly boarded and barred as they had been left six months ago. No movement came from the town save the occasional leaf borne on the wind.

At Nate's urging, Robbie ditched the car they were using and left it at the town limits.

Something told him they wouldn't be needing it anymore.

They soon passed the town proper and soon came to a trail. Dipper's good mood faded instantly as he came to a stop just at the entrance. "The Mystery Shack." He muttered. The places was in shambles. The house was a wreck, pieces of wood hanging off in every which way. The trees, the ones still standing, were covered in choking vines and surrounded by weeds.

"Oh Dipper... I'm so sorry." Wendy said as she came up next to him.

He shook his head sadly. "I always hoped that someone would still be here. Stan didn't want to leave and I..."

A flash of movement from the back of the shack caught his eye.

Dipper was off like a shot, bursting through what was left of the trees and barreling at top speed toward the house he'd spent many of his summers in. The others hurried behind him. He skidded to a stop around the corner of the house and looked up to see...

...an old sofa on the porch, empty.

Grunkle Stan's sofa.

Dipper looked down in sadness... and saw. "Look." He told the others when they'd caught up.

They looked to find a series of foot-prints leading away from the house and out towards the forest.

"Looks like they go all the way into the forest." Lee stated.

"It's... it's never left foot-prints before..." Tambry whispered.

"What do you s'pose it means?" Robbie asked, trying to ignore the chill that suddenly filled his bones.

"It's an invitation." Lee growled.

Dipper looked from the empty couch over to the distant tree-line. "It's be rude to ignore it." He stamped his foot onto one of the dusty prints and felt a grim satisfaction as it vanished beneath his weight.

The sun continued to set behind the Gravity Falls Forest casting long shadows that reached the posse and encircled them like tentacles of darkness.

/

It watched them as they entered the house.

It was ready for them.

It waited.


	2. Chapter 2

That night they enjoyed a dinner of some canned goods they'd found in town and a few fresh apples they'd managed to find on sickly branches. They mutually agreed that noon would be the best time to head out on their venture. Rooms were chosen and good-nights were shared (save Nate and Lee who decided to stay up and finish the last reserves of Thompson's booze he had stored).

Back in the living room, Nate and Lee chugged yet another bottle of booze from the reserves.

Lee finished first and tossed his bottle as hard as he could against the wall with a satisfied mock-roar. "I am all that is MAN!"

Nate finished his own drink a moment later and made to place it down and grab another one instead of tossing it. "If I'd have known how good this stuff Thompson had was, I would've mooched off him ages ago."He took another long gulp and let his bottle simply drop to the ground. He grinned at Lee, a prominent foam mustache above his upper lip.

This struck Nate as hilarious and soon he was doubled over next to the couch, great gales of laughter erupting from inside him.

Lee quickly realized what the issue was and wiped the foam-stache clear. He looked back down at Nate. "When you're quite finished...I wanted to apologize for Portland."

His giggles finally faded and Nate climbed back onto the couch, wiping tears from his eyes. "For what?"

"I didn't mean to make you as mad as I did. When I said all that stuff about your family."

He blew a drunken raspberry and waved a hand. "I know how you are, man. I know you didn't mean it."

Nate paused. "Dude, why are you here?" He asked as he made to retrieve his empty bottle.

"Figured I'd spend what might be my last night on Earth getting drunk with my best friend."

Nate shook his head. "No, I mean why are you here? With us?"

He shrugged. "I didn't wanna leave my home, simple as that."

Nate rejoined him on the couch. "So you're coming with us tomorrow for revenge and redemption... I'll drink ta that."

He toasted his friend. "Cheers."

/

Lights were out. Well, no power in a town meant that permanently, but the flashlights and candles that had provided a source of light had long since extinguished. The building that hid a gang of squatting teens and a pre-teen boy was quiet and dark. Only one soul stirred, moving silently through the building as she had for hours.

Wendy's feet landed against the carpet floors softly as she walked down the dark hallway. It was late. Very late. Late enough for anyone without insomnia to wonder why on earth you'd be up. Somewhere around the hours of go to bed and why eyes feel like ants are crawling on them, Wendy was still pacing around the halls of Thompsons family's home. Well, the home they had before they fled.

Just like the town, her home before this all happened.

So there was a monster out there, in those woods beyond the window she saw as she passed by the living room, dark and outline with a few sleeping bodies. No snores reverberated through the walls tonight. If you got sleep, it would be a tense, fearful rest of the body.

She rubber her eyes and stumbled. Her mind reeled, begging for rest. Then her fear got the better of her, and in the woods beyond the street and into the mountains she swore she saw movement everywhere. The walls creaked and she jolted slightly.

Wind brought a dull rumble of rain against the house and street outside. Great, Wendy thought, now it's raining. Typical. I'm living in a horror movie.

What she would give for a stop button. Or eject.

Thunder screamed above her, loud and powerful. It caused her jump a little and turn away from the kitchen. She already was facing a soon to be collapse into the first thing comfortable enough to pass out.

"Gah!" she hissed. In her turn away from the living room, she stubbed her toe against a floor wall crowning. "Fucking..." Wendy had covered her mouth on the rest of the swear words she expelled from her enraged mind. If she survived this, she was going to rip those off of Thompsons walls. And then burn them over that monsters corpse.

Back through the hallway, Wendy paused. She thought she heard something small nearby, just loud enough to call out from past the tremulous rain above her. She turned back to the living room, her eyes wide as she peered through the darkness. Nothing moved in the direction she had come from. Had she misheard?

To her right a door whipped open and a light was cast on her. She nearly screamed, managing to cover her eyes and gasp with a contained outcry.

"Oh my god," Dipper's voice relaxed from apparent tension, the light clicking off as he materialized before her, holding onto the doorframe. "Wendy, you scared me."

"Yeah, makes two of us," Wendy shrugged, her heart still racing slightly, blinking to re-adjust to the dark light. "What are you doing up, dude? It's... like three or four."

"I can't sleep."

"Again, makes two of us," Wendy told him, leaning on the wall behind her, closing her eyes wishfully and craning her head upwards, looking to the ceiling, "I just can't get the idea of that thing out of my head."

"What it might have done to the others," Dipper added darkly, looking to her. "Like, what does something without a mouth, or a face for that matter, even do with people?"

"I'd rather not think about it, dude," Wendy told him and stumbled upwards. Dipper made a sound of urgency, prepared to dive and catch her. She snorted at his heroic readiness. "Dude. I'm okay."

"Yeah. I know. Just tired..." Dipper rubbed his eyes, visibly darker and with larger bags under his eyes.

Wendy looked to the living room again. All her friends rested soundly, taking up the good spots. Something about that seemed right. She wanted company. But for once, Wendy Corduroy wanted a nice surface to sleep on. Camping all her life taught her the wonderful talent of resting on surfaces less than adequate for the spoiled human snoozer, but this was not one of those nights she wished to ignore her desire for indulgence. She wanted a nice bed.

Dipper had brought his papers and maps inside the bedroom Thompsons family usually slept in, and since he was a night owl, the other teens had discounted sleeping inside there. Robbie had protested slightly, but relented at a glare from Wendy. She may be able to sleep yet it seemed.

"Dipper, you using anything on that bed?" she asked, nodding to the bed behind him. He turned, as if totally forgetting he had remained in a bedroom the entire night.

"Oh. No, you can use it. I won't bother you," Dipper told her with a sloppy smile.

With a firm but gentle push, Wendy lifted herself off the wall and strode past Dipper.

Even now, in the darkness of the night and the doom lingering over her, she caught a glint in his eye that told her he was excited. Visibly? No. The poor kid looked more tired than she did. She snuck a tiny glance behind her as she approached, and he was speaking silently to himself, his eye closed as he slowly pushed the door shut. All those tell signs again. Poor guy.

She still had no idea how to approach the kid having such a crush on her. It hadn't popped up recently, as there had been more pressing matters on hand than the twelve year old, near thirteen year olds, affection towards her. Her brother vanished, her father leaving with her other two brothers, Mabel vanishing, the town up and leaving; it all was just a downward spiral away from her old routine with Dipper.

"You okay?" she asked as she reached the bed, feeling the soft sheets. Dipper gasped and stumbled for words, but nodded. "What's up? You seemed okay a bit ago."

"Well, uh," Dipper tilted his head side to side, cooking an answer he deemed worthy to her. "I just wanted to... you know... thank you."

'Thank me?" she said, untying her shoes and tossing her socks to the floor, "dude, for what?"

"Wendy," Dipper laid his hands before him, stalling his shaky nature, "if I had gone into those woods, I may have been dead."

Wendy slowed her descent to her seat. Staring into those young brown eyes, so full of dark worries and meaning was like being swallowed by another mind altogether. She wanted to comfort him, let him know it wouldn't have happened. But it would have been a lie.

Hell, just telling the poor guy that there was still a chance now was a lie to her.

"Don't worry about it Dipper," Wendy shrugged, "I gotta look out for my boy."

"Yeah," Dipper chuckled a little, walking over as Wendy planted her rear onto the bed behind her, her hair touching the bed, "you're good at doing that. Always watching out for me. Thanks."

She grinned, biting her lip to hold back a genuine smile. She removed her hat, placing it on the bed rest to her right, and lying back. Dipper was twelve, and already a pretty good flirt. As long as he didn't know he was flirting, he said some of the sweetest things to her.

Maybe it was the state of mind- delirium and sleep deprivation can cause the craziest ideas to formulate. Maybe it was the hopelessness of the situation that churned the sudden thought into her head. Maybe he had just said the right thing at the right time. Maybe she pitied herself and him, certainly doomed to die, or vanish like all the others. It didn't entirely matter. She was just glad it was dark enough for him to see her blushing face.

Wendy suddenly knew Dipper could have been the best boyfriend she had ever had, and he was three years junior to her.

It made her stomach hurt. She had, naturally informed him of her tally on their age gap, letting him off easy to their mutual understanding. She could never stop being his friend. He was caring, sensitive, intelligent, and a load of fun to be around. Dipper made her feel important, and not in the big-sister way. Not only that, the boy was going to grow up. She could feel that importance inside him, a strength that had yet to show itself, and it was... attractive. So now, of course, at the end of the line as it seemed her stupid, selfish mind would say 'There's the boy for you! Go get him tiger'.

"Wendy? Are you okay?" Dipper asked.

"Huh?"

"You looked like you were hurt," he asked, taking a few steps closer.

Wendy swore inside her head, and shut her eyes. "Yeah. I'm okay buddy. Just got stupid stuff going through my head."

"Me too," Dipper sighed and turned away, falling against the side of the bed and sliding to the floor. Wendy laid on the bed fully, looking at the ceiling.

"You want to talk about it?" Wendy asked quietly and with as much sensitivity as she could muster.

"Not really. Like I said, it's just... so full of dumb," Dipper snorted.

"That sounded like Mabel talking," Wendy smiled widely.

"Ha! It did, didn't it?"

Wendy's smile didn't falter. Looking up to the ceiling, she actually wondered if this would have been what it was like dating the kid- staying up late, chatting at ease around one another. Well... okay, maybe not at east, but certainly comfortable with the other in the room. It sounded... nice. Ex's before her had always some agenda to get with her: most of it was a good late-night make out. She appreciated their enthusiasm, sure, but this, this calmness that she experienced with him, this was serenity.

It was until she heard a stifled sniff.

"Dipper?" Wendy leaned up.

"Huh?" Dipper's voice struggled not to tremble, but it was too late. He had betrayed any chance of masking his state of being.

"Hey," she pulled herself to the edge to talk to him, face to face. Then he pulled himself away, hugging his knees. "Buddy, come on, talk to me."

"What do I say? Wendy, I'm just so lost," Dipper told her, still not turning around. "When this is over, there still isn't any guarantee that... we get anyone back. Like, I was going to go running in there because I knew if I didn't get Mabel back, then what was the point of me being a twin? Of me being alive? So you know I... I... but now I don't want to lose... lose you too," Dipper's voice cracked and his breath grew heavy. "You mean so much to me."

His heart bled away before her and it's pain shattered her own. Wendy couldn't stand for it. With a mustering of her courage, she reached down, and rubbed a hand against his head. Dipper twitched at first, and then realized her intent. Gently pulling his head back, she lowered her own head to his forehead and placed the softest kiss her lips could create.

Dipper's entire body shuddered and froze. He stared at her. Wendy's eyes were closed but that sensation of a shocked boy looking helplessly at her. She lifted her head away, opening her eyes to two sparkling brown ones. If she had hoped kissing him on the forehead would have made her own empathetic pain vanish, she was quickly proven wrong.

"Wendy-"

"Hey, why don't you come up here?" Wendy suggested, pulling herself up from leaning over and making plenty of room for him on the king sized mattress. "C'mon dude, plenty of room."

"B-b-but you- did you just- I-"

"Dipper, dude, chill," Wendy snickered as he blustered, clinging to the sheets as he pulled himself upright, staring at her. She propped her hand against her head, and stared at the boy. "C'mon dude. Just us two dudes chilling on a bed."

"But you just kissed me," Dipper told her.

"Yeah."

"You kissed me!"

"I did."

"But you... you're never going to kiss me," Dipper admitted painfully, "like... it wasn't-"

"Just get up here, dork," Wendy sighed with exasperation. Dipper stared on for a moment. Weakly, he pulled himself up, his weight barely shifting the placement of the blanket.

"Wendy, are you okay?" Dipper asked, fearfully looking to her as he sat on his knees next to her as she lay on her back. She felt a stinging pain in her back. It tugged on her shoulders, and she realized she had not removed her bra in a few days.

"Yeah dude," she said, and with the impulse that only a sleep-deprived Wendy Corduroy could have, she leant up, and in two shift clicks, unfastened her bra, slid it out of her shirt, and tossed if at the end of her bed. There it was- that liberty and fresh air that those devilish contraptions were meant to restrain. She sighed, more at peace then she had been minutes earlier.

Dipper's mouth had fallen open. He almost looked like a broken puppet his mouth was hanging so low.

"First time a girl took her bra off in front of you, huh?" Wendy asked.

"Uh... yes. Ever. Wendy, are you an angel?" Dipper suddenly asked, reaching slowly out with his hand.

The redhead burst out with laughter. He had meant it seriously. "Why would you ask that dude? Oh my god," She snorted as she held her mouth.

"It's like... I've died and really gone to heavy," Dipper shook his head, "you have to be an illusion. This can't be real. None of this can be real! This sort of thing doesn't happen to me! To anyone," he added with a thoughtful glance away.

"Dude," Wendy looked to him, "what are you talking about?"

"I'm... sitting in bed..." he swallowed a lot here, forcing his eyes to stare at her, "with the girl I've had a crush on all summer... who's kissed me... and now has removed her bra... I don't know how this can be real."

"Save yourself a headache and come here," she said, nodding him closer. In a trance he did as asked, shuffling closer and lying down, and the he turned away. "What? You don't want to look at me?"

"I don't want you to see me," Dipper quickly admitted, "I mean- that's not- I just- damn it..."

Wendy grinned wolfishly. A hand on his shoulder, she easily turned him to face the ceiling. She had given him the chance to blow this entire thing, and each time he held back, pulled away. It was one thing to be a gentlemen, but this was far enough.

"Dude, hey, look at me," Wendy asked of him gently when he turned his head away. "Dipper?" she asked quietly. That got him to turn. In the close proximity, lying next to one another in bed, face to face, she could feel the heat radiating off his face. He must have a blush that made makeup seem irrelevant.

"Wendy?" he asked, those same eyes glinting in the minimal night.

No more words for her. He had said everything he needed to. She wanted to let him know fully her intent. Not a kiss on the cheek, or another on the forehead. This one was right on the lips. Soft, caring, sincere, she let her blessing to the younger boy linger just for a bit. His entire body had tensed, and then relaxed into what could have been a liquefied human shape. She broke from the kiss, a near silent experience.

"Was that your first kiss?" Wendy asked, feeling heat rise into her cheeks. What if she had just taken his first legitimate kiss from him. It was his turn to squirm.

"Unless you count CPR, yes," Dipper admitted, gulping loudly.

"I hope it was up to your expectations," Wendy told him. His head jittered slightly forward. More and more it crept closer. She knew what he wanted, but was going to let him get it for himself. He needed to learn this.

His lips met hers. She closed her eyes, letting the calm quiet of the room wash over her bounding, pounding heart in her chest. She wanted more. More from him.

It was crazy to ask this. Crazy to be doing this to him, one of her best friends- no, her true best friend, and going this far, yet wanting more. Spontaneity and madness consumed her, burning her insides in all degrees and begging for more. Frustration and pent up feelings of a physical nature seemed to be coursing through her soul like a blissful infection.

"Dipper, is it hot in here?" she asked coyly. His sleepy eyes were reminded of their ability to widen. She grabbed the edges of her shirt and raised them up. She had done it. Flashed the boy right before him and was continuing to do so as she tossed the shirt to the end of the bed. Dipper gulped.

"Uh... should I turn away?" he asked her, his head shaking, impulsively trying to look away, but his eyes refused to release their lock on Wendy's chest.

"Well, you could join me?" she suggested. Dipper nodded, still entirely in a trance. His fingers clutched his shirt and pulled up. he had forgotten to remove his vest, and grumbled, now caught on the vest and his shirt, slightly over his head. Damn adorable.

Wendy leaned over, and added her own two cents on the matter, helping him raise his shirt and vest off simultaneously with a little coordination. As they fell next to the bed, he again locked onto her, but not her chest; her eyes.

"You're doing a good job of being a gentlemen," Wendy commended to the younger boy.

He shook his head as he stared into her face. "You're so beautiful," he barely whispered.

Well holy crap this kid could sweet talk. If Wendy thought she was blushing before, she hadn't seen her face now. A coal could be located inside her head, radiating a furious heat. Her face was just too hot. She had no more resistance to ask for what she wanted. She was going to get it.

With a rush of movement, she reached to her pants and slid off her belt in a rush. Dipper stared at her as she nearly swam out of her jeans, kicking them off her feet and then finally sliding off her matching panties to her black bra.

"You better catch up," Wendy warned Dipper, "the train is leaving."

"R-right," Dipper nodded feverishly, and also scrambled to remove his pants. He was much less graceful than she was, even in her maddening rush to help herself to nude freedom. Lying on his back, he was jamming off his pants and underwear at the same time. Finally he kicked them off, right into Wendy's face.

"Oh! Sorry!" he gasped, reaching forward apologetically as she slid away his clothes from her body.

Naked. Both of them naked as the day they were born. She stared at Dipper, so unlike her previous men she had stayed. He was softer, as to be expected with age. Well, okay, not entirely soft. With a strongly withheld grin, she noticed a very poignant part of the boy that was not 'soft'.

It made her proud really. She had him under her spell.

"Come here," she grabbed his arm and lead him closer until they were touching. He was a foot shorter than her entirely, and so his head rested between her breasts. It almost sounded like he was drowning when she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, dropping her own head to kiss him on the head.

"Now, lie back onto me," she told him as she lead back. She kept him in place as she gently slid back, letting her head lay against a pillow. He landed against her strong stomach, resting between her legs. In a burst of fear, the younger boy pushed himself away, staring down at her most private region. "It won't bite."

"Wendy, are, I mean, are you sure you want to do this?" he spluttered out, looking between himself, her, and her eyes. She bit her lips in a grin.

"Yes."

"O-okay... uh... so I just put it in, right?" he asked, holding himself with a hand as he looked between her and her privates.

"You got it, bud," she winked to him.

One big sigh later, he navigated himself into her. Slowly, carefully, he pushed himself into her as far as he could. His eyes could have welded shut. Dipper groaned, holding onto Wendy's legs for support as he clearly was feeling the sensation that was a woman's inside. She gasped as well, the great sensations of amore filled body racing through her nerves like fireworks.

"Oh, oh wow," Dipper managed to blurt out, swallowing loudly, "uh... great. Wow. Just... wow. I can't believe..."

"Let me guess- wow?" Wendy suggested, and Dipper nodded, his mouth open as he breathed heavily. "Now here's the part you have to do some work. You're in, now you pull just enough out so that you can piston back inside."

"Okay. I got this," Dipper nodded to himself. Wendy fought a huge urge to chuckle. This was his big moment. He may be naive and a little silly about this, but was his first time. This had to be special for him. Maybe later she could tease him about it.

Dipper followed instructions and pulled just enough out to push back in. His fingers dug into her strong skin, pushing his pelvis into her.

The stress, the danger, the world itself was slowly fading from her. Dipper had gotten a tempo, and was using it to continue successive thrusts, leaving Wendy to feel each one inside her like a surge of electricity. The heat from earlier wasn't going anywhere; it was rising.

More. She wanted more.

Without asking if he was okay with her request, she reached forward, grabbing his arms, and pulling his hands and placing them onto her breasts. Clearly the animal in Dipper had taken over, for he peered into her eyes, hungrily and accepted her change. Now grabbing her chest, she thrust and clutched tightly. He wasn't pulling or hurting her- but the attention was well needed.

Wendy was moaning, really into this exchange of heat, the wetness and tightness of it all. She wasn't just taking away his virginity, she felt she was making a full man out of this boy. Changing him from one state of his life into the next.

Several minutes passed as Wendy thought she was going to burst into flames. She could feel Dipper was changing too, he felt more possessed, instinctual and intent on the action than the thought. He was still clutching onto her, as she needed it, but sweat fell from his face as he pounded into her.

"Wendy, I feel weird," he told her breathlessly. "Tight."

"Okay, pull out and let me finish for you," she told him. With a nod, he rested and slid out of her. The tightness easing, she bent forward and reached to grab him. His entire body twitched as her fingers clutched onto him, gripping tightly.

Her turn to trust. Holding onto his member, she began to jerk her arm, masturbating the boy before her. His gasps and groans grew closer and closer, and eventually his face screwed up.

Hot and sticky struck her chest. Dipper was biting his lips closer, trying to remain quiet as he achieved his first ever orgasm.

The moment passed slowly. Dipper was opening his eyes, a whole new world ahead of him clearly. A world belonging to his manhood. He looked down to Wendy, and then grimaced. He could tell her had made a mess all over her.

"So... can you get me something?" Wendy asked, him, trying to remain still.

"Dang- I'll- gimme a sec," Dipper leapt off the bed and opened one of the wardrobes in the house. A pair of socks was the first thing he found and he tossed it to her.

"Thanks bud," she winked to him as she undid the bundle and began to wipe up the remains of their escapade that had been released onto her chest. Dipper had also gotten a sock for himself, and wiped himself off, uncaringly tossing the sock to the floor.

"I'm exhausted," Dipper told her as clambered back into bed.

"You should be. You earned it," Wendy told him, tossing her own dirtied sock away. "Come here," she told him, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him next to her.

Before Dipper could say one more thing, admit a fault or apologize for anything relating to their sex, she kissed him. Powerfully, firmly, she kissed him.

Minutes could have passed based on how long Wendy let his lips linger on her. She didn't want them to break. Human intimacy may be the last real thing she had on this planet before everything came to an end. Dipper did lean back, breathing heavily.

"Wendy, I love you."

She kissed him again, holding him from saying anything further.

"I love you too."

The awe in his eyes could not have been measured. He must have gazed upon god itself, because he held a thousand mile stared, directed directly in her great green eyes.

"Turn around, you," she told him, "you're going to be my teddy bear for the night."

Dipper grinned, and following her instruction, he rolled himself away, facing the door. With that, Wendy reached around him, and grasped him tightly, pulling him to her. They met. His head landed between in the middle of her chest. She could feel some of his hair tickling against her.

"Wendy?"

"Sup," she replied quietly.

"When, you know, this is all over," Dipper asked, "can we... uh, you know... make this a thing?"

A girl with almost nothing had nothing to loose from that offer. "Yes. We can make this a thing."

Dipper's face must have formed the largest smile of its life to her words, because he adjusted and rubbed against her, snuggling himself tightly into her arms and around her curvature. The little spoon. Her big Dipper.

She didn't know when they fell asleep, together in their arms. It didn't matter.

Wendy knew the boy to be hopeful. She prayed silently until the world of dreams overcame her that he was right.

Yet a nagging, pulling fear, a knowing, told her this was probably the last time they would have a chance to be together alive.

Carpe diem.

/

In the depths of the Gravity Falls Forest, a drum-like beat began to pierce the silence of the woods. It grew louder and louder and louder...

It called to them.

It felt the bond the two people shared

This was good.

It could use that.

Their time was running out.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Snap. It's about ta go down._

_Once again, I have to give thanks to my man, EZB on Fanfiction for the help with the dirteh floof in this chapter. So now that all the floof is outta the way, it's time for them to head into the woods. Oh, what fun that'll be._

_And I have to say right now, I really had to give Wendy and Dipper that moment together. I just didn't want them to go out without messing around and confessing feelings. It just doesn't seem right. And besides, would you wanna face Slender Man a virgin? I know I wouldn't. Who knows where those tentacles have been!_


	3. Chapter 3

The mid-day sun was rising. As the sun touched her skin, Wendy groaned in rejection and reached across the bed for her bedmate.

All she found was empty air.

Sudden cold panic filled her heart and she sat bolt upright, ready to shout his name... only to find her Dipper lighting a candle in the window. "Dipper? What are you doing?"

He looked at the candle's tiny dancing flame. "It's an old family tradition that Grunkle Stan told me about. When the pioneers settled this land, the Gravity Falls Forest was filled with all sorts of beasts who saw us people as easy prey. Before anyone set out, they left a candle in the window to sit there and burn until they returned. If they didn't come back by the time the candle melted..." He trailed off and looked at her. His eyes finished the story.

They left seven candles burning in the window that day.

/

Their plan had been to use the noon sun to avoid the forest's darkness for as long as possible.

That plan had been rendered useless when, after less than an hour's worth of traveling, the branches and canopy of leaves overhead dropped them all into pitch blackness. Anticipating this exact scenario, they lit their turned on their flashlights and Wendy lit an old lantern she was carrying. With nary a word spoken, they continued to follow the tracks in the dirt.

Hours passed and it was Robbie who finally slumped against a tree and wiped his sweaty brow. "Don't you think we could rest?" He muttered.

Dipper considered, then consented with a nod.

The group relaxed and rested a while, sipping cool water from canteens and munching snacks and some apples they'd carried from Thompson's house. For a moment, they weren't seven survivors on a desperate hunt to purge their home of an ancient evil; they were just seven friends enjoying a dark stroll in the woods.

Perhaps that's why Tambry was so startled when the drums began to sound in the distance. "Uh... anyone else hear that?"

The pleasant mood evaporated in an instant as they all became aware of the rapidly approaching steady thump that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Wendy glanced at Dipper. "Should we...?"

The light from all seven sources died.

"Formation. NOW." Dipper barked.

Just as they'd practiced over and over again, the seven people arranged themselves into a circular shape with each of them facing outward in a different direction. They backed up until they could feel their backs against someone else's. They froze, each staring out into the impenetrable darkness. Nate raised his hand and prepared lighter with a spray can of something flammable he had found.

The maddening beat continued untempered. It surrounded them and filled them. Every moment it seemed to grow in strength and frequency.

"Anyone see anything?"

"Nothing."

"Nothin' here either."

Something stuck out in the corner of Tambry's vision. A pale head, a long body... "THERE!"

On instinct, Nate turned and loosed a blast of flame from the improvised flamethrower. It shot out, shining them all in it's brilliant light...

...revealing the spindly tree an instant before the flame reduced it to a burning husk.

"Damn it, Tambry! I've only got enough juice for a few of those!" He snarled, hurriedly relighting his small flame once again.

Tambry apology was cut off by Dipper's exclamation. "OVER THERE!"

Again, a burst of fire gave light to the darkness.

Again, a long dead tree was consumed.

"This... is... ridiculous." Wendy almost laughed.

She choked off her laughter just as the maddening beat came to an abrupt stop.

The silence that now surrounded them seemed more frightening and dangerous than the noise had been.

The seven companions steadied their collective breath, trying their best to keep their fear reigned in. Their bodies squirmed against each other...

...and against something else.

"...is... is that...?" Thompson started.

Dipper cut him off. "No one move a muscle."

Lee's eye twitched. "How the fuck did it get behind us...?"

"STOP!" Dipper reasserted control and glared out into the woods. "We prepared for this. Run straight forward. How many paces Nate?"

Nate swallowed, his throat dry. "Three hundred paces."

"That's right. Then what Wendy?"

"Left one hundred paces. Dipper... I think it's touching me..."

"Good, Wendy. Last step Thompson?"

"Left again, three hundred paces back. Regroup and attack." He used his peripheral vision to try and see his face. "You promise we're gonna be okay?"

"...Yes." Dipper took a deep breath and tensed his muscles. "On three. One... two... THREE!"

The seven raced off separately into the dark woods.

/

Robbie, proud of his decision to take a flashlight, had just rounded the last turn and was ready to sprint back towards the rest of the group when some supernatural wind materialized and his light went out again.

Not missing a beat, Robbie doffed his backpack, retrieved a pair of batteries, and reignited the flashlights reassuring glow. He stood, a small grin on his face, and made ready to scorch his way down the home stretch.

Identical forest surrounded him.

He'd become turned around.

He was lost.

The beat returned to his ears.

Panicking only slightly, Robbie looked hurriedly between the two paths before him. He looked first left, then right, then left...

…it was right in front of him.

Robbie gasped and slammed his eyes shut on instinct. The beat was maddening, it's pulse almost seeming to match the rapid thumping of his heart. He held his head in his hands as he tried to drown out the maddening beat.

A strange warmth touched his head.

Robbie opened his eyes. The thing was directly in front of him, it's tentacle caressing his forehead. It tilted it's head.

Robbie screamed as his light was blown out by a second tentacle.

/

Nate caught a glimpse of the thing out of the corner of his eye. Disregarding the plans, the formations, and the strategies, he whirled towards the creature and shot a blast of flame at it.

DIRECT HIT! He watched it spasm from the fireball and actually stumble.

Filled with adrenaline and jubilation, Nate pressed forward, the fire stream pushing back the creature. He poured every bit of juice he had left into the it, intent on wiping this monstrosity from the face of the Earth.

The beast actually seemed to shrink away from the growing light.

Grinning triumphantly, Nate took a single defiant step forward. "My name is Nate Rianda, you unholy thing! And this... THIS IS COMPLIMENTS OF MY SISTER!" With as fierce a battle cry as he'd ever mustered, he loosed every bit of energy he had left as a ball of fire rushed towards the creature. It poofed in the air, heading directly for it's target...

...but the thing was gone.

And it was now a terrified young girl who faced down the fireball.

"NO!" Nate screamed even as the fireball collided with his little sister. He watched as she convulsed and spasmed as the flames took her. He watched her skin melt, her eyes pop, her flesh roast right down to the bone.

She collapsed to the ground, a crisp, smoking remnant of what she'd once been.

"No..." Nate muttered weakly, his legs giving out as his energy faded once and for all. His gaze remained fixated on the smoldering ruin that had been the last remnant of his family he'd ever known.

It never occurred to him that what he was seeing might be an illusion, one of it's many tricks.

Not even when it's tentacle wrapped around his neck.

/

Tambry ran, stumbling as best she could through the woods. Rough bark scraped against her shoulders, but she wouldn't feel it. Not now, not when she was running for her life, and the only light for her was that of her precious phone in front of her, illuminating the path ahead.

It was there, just ahead of her, and her brain squeezed itself like a dying spider.

"NO!" Tambry spun right back around, not taking a second more to whirl herself.

Yet something else stood before her.

Her own mother was standing by a tree, waving her to come closer.

"Mom?" Tambry barked, quickly checking behind her. It was gone.

"Tambry," her mother called to her, waving to her still.

"Mom, what the heck are you doing here?" Tambry demanded, taking a jittery pair of steps closer, "in the woods? You can't be here, it isn't safe!"

"Tambry, dear," her mother stepped from the tree, adjusting her shirt and skirt as she stepped closer, "you are afraid."

"I'm, ugh, no, I'm not scared mom," Tambry growled, staring at her mother's dark face as she approached. "How did you get here? My friends are here too, we need to all-"

"Tambry, are you afraid?"

Tambry blinked. The voice that had asked that was distorted. Her mother's voice was somewhere inside the echo that was coming from the person approaching her, but it was not... right. Like it was a shadow of a memory. Something less then real.

Fearfully, Tambry lifted her phone and illuminated her mothers face. Tambry put a hand over her mouth. There were no eyes in her mother's sockets.

"Tambry, are you afraid?" her mother asked again, her eyeless feature face tilting slightly to the side, smiling ever so slightly. "Are you afraid of the dark? Of that which walks between the shadows?" Tambry looked away as her mother stepped to be in front of her face and closed her eyes. "Tambry, please answer your mother. Are you afraid?"

Almost completely gone now, unable to breathe, Tambry shook in fear as tears began to stream down her face like rivers. Her precious phone fell to the forest floor. "Yes... I am afraid."

"Good."

The voice was not her mother's.

Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the long tentacles wrapped tightly about her. Her mother smiled wide and wider, the darkness of her eye sockets compelling Tambry to look ahead.

It was probably better than what was stepping up behind her.

With what little air she had left, Tambry laughed her lungs dry.

She laughed until she screamed.

/

"Shit!"

Lee leapt over a log, and landed on a loose rock. Keeping his balance to him, he slid down the side of a hill, tussling his feet forwards and backwards to keep himself upright. There was a sudden gash across his face- something had cut him. His hands instinctively went to his face, and he fell forward.

"SHIT!" he shouted, rolling down the hill without a hope of stopping. Rocks and twigs stabbed and smashed into his arms and fingers. Then there was a drop. Lee felt the world disappear below him, and he looked down.

He had fallen a clear fifteen feet.

He landed on one leg with a loud crack.

"F-FUCK!" he screamed into the air as fire blazed through his leg, racing into his brain, his lungs, his entire being. Without pretense to the situation, he struggled to keep quiet, gasping and moaning as he saw the clear indentation that his femur had taken. It was broken very badly.

"Oh no, man," Lee cried tears as his entire body shook. "Oh crap, oh fucking crap!"

He tried moving, pushing himself up.

A drumbeat in the woods echoed around him.

Lee gasped and fell back. He could feel the destroyed leg scream, and he bit his teeth down as hard as he could, hissing loudly. This wasn't good. That sound, he knew that sound. It was the only thing worse then death in his head.

"Guys!" Lee chanced as he called into the air around him. "GUYS!" he called again.

The beating sound was growing stronger. "No, no, no," Lee shook his head and looked around, a rock, a stick- anything to let him know he would die fighting. There, a rock the size of his hand. With a quick digging of his fingers, he pulled it to him, and clutched it above his head.

"Come out you ugly son of a bitch!"

That terrible drumbeat replied. Lee's ears were ringing, throbbing from the pain of his leg, broken and bleeding internally. He wasn't sure he would ever walk again, but it may not matter.

There was a rustle from above, and a figure slammed next to him with a sick thud. Lee yelled, incapable of pushing himself away.

It was Nate.

"NO!" Lee pulled himself closer to the face down man who had just smashed down into the earth, probably the same height as he had. "C'mon man! Nate! Talk to me, bro!" Lee desperately shook his shoulder. "Dude! Talk to me!"

"Lee..."

Lee gasped, and put his hand onto Nate's shoulder, comforting him. "Man, you okay? You- where is your flamethrower thing dude?"

Nate was stirring, but struggled to push himself upwards. Lee asked again, more intent on an answer. "Nate!"

Nate turned his head from the ground, his face scratched and his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and Lee felt all the pain of his wound sweep away like a rescinding tide.

"Lee, are you afraid?" Nate asked, his eye sockets pitch black.

Lee felt a twinge of fury. The man he had been ready to crawl his way back to civilization with was no more. He had been deceived. He was alone. No one was going to come for him if Nate hadn't. He raised his fist, clenching onto the stone.

And a black, tendril slid around it, forcing Lee to look up.

/

"...eighty nine, ninety, ninety one-"

Thompson was breathing hard and panting like a dog as he charged out a bush, his eyes wide and his gate feverish. He was running like a mad man, keeping straight and focused as he stayed on the course.

"Ninety five, ninety six," he told himself, breathing harder and harder. Did it really have to be so many steps? This was ridiculous. He wasn't even sure he was in the same section of the forest anymore, just so intent on running. But he had stayed true to his directions.

"Ninety nine, One hundred!" he gasped, and stopped for air, clutching his lungs.

As he raised up to look around, a portion of fog had rolled around the ground, pampering the floor with moisture.

"Oh, great. Now I can slip and die," Thompson whined to himself as he turned. "One... two... one, two, three," he began to jog.

There it was. The drumbeat. The thumping. It pushed against his head, against his sanity.

"Seven, eight, nine," Thompson said loudly, trying to push out that horrible sound in his head.

It was growing louder. He could feel something moving along side his vision, just as fast as he was going. He needed to be faster. Even faster than he could be. His legs were kicking hard into the air, lifting the debris of the forest floor high above him. He would not be stopped now- not after meticulously following the instructions to a tee.

"One hundred Twenty five!" he shouted, beside himself.

The thrumming grew louder. Wind and cold air whipped past him.

Thompson gritted his teeth angrily. How could it end like this? He couldn't let that happen. All this time, all these hours he spent being picked on and teased to be accept by his comrades, all the times it had been worth it, come down to being chased in the woods by some no-named faceless tall jerk-off?

" One hundred eighty nine!" he yelled into the woods, declaring his resistance.

His head hurt. Even with his breaths going as fast as he could, he felt his vision swimming. Balance was key now; if he fell, surely the monster would be on top of him in an instant. He couldn't let it come to that. He was stronger than that. He would make it, no matter the pain. His throat burned, his lungs screamed, and his heart raced faster than it should.

"Two hundred seventy eight!" he shouted with a gasp. He would die, or he would be taken. But he wouldn't stop trying. "Two hundred ninety seven! Three... Hundred!"

Finally he saw it, the clearing in the woods, the scorch marks left by Nate. He made it back.

"HA!" he shouted around him, spinning around in a circle, his arms spread out. "Ha! Ha... ha," he fell to the ground, the blood nor reaching his head fast enough.

Thompson clutched his chest, groaning in pain. It was tight. His fingers were numb, along with his toes. Everything else but his chest felt entirely number.

Yet he still heard the pounding. Was it his heartbeat? Was it the force of evil wandering in these woods he had outraced to get here, to meet up with his friends?

He wouldn't know. Something wrapped itself around his eyes and he screamed, feeling himself be pulled away. All Thompson could beg in his mind was that someone he knew find him, know how much he put into getting back to him, to reach them and smile once more.

His friends never came back for him.

/

"WENDY?!" Nothing. "NATE?!" No response. "LEE?!" Silence. "...ANYONE?!"

Beyond the light of his flashlight, Dipper's world was one of darkness and silence.

Something long, dark, and cylindrical shot out from the darkness and knocked his light to the ground. In the last flash of light before the light burned out, Dipper saw the monster he sought standing no more than a mere twenty feet in front of him.

Rage and hatred filled his heart and he launched himself at the beast with a defiant cry, intent of wiping the scum from the Earth through sheer blunt force.

The thing actually seemed surprised for a moment, but it recovered quickly and reached out for him with countless black tentacles.

Dipper closed his eyes and tensed for the impact of his body against the thing's thin frame... but it never came.

For the briefest instant, he felt like his body was passing through a veil of liquid, as though he were running through a particularly hard rain. The wet feeling passed, the darkness of the Gravity Falls Forest faded...

...into a bright sunny day at the Mystery Shack. He skidded to a stop, not fully listening to the bird song in the air and the sweet smell of pine in his nose. Confused, he looked around frantically. Of the creature, there was no sign.

A gentle breeze picked up and carried a worn trapper cap to his feet.

Wendy's hat.

He started at it, not fully comprehending it.

"Dipper!"

His head snapped towards the house at the sound of Wendy's familiar call.

"Dude, could you bring me my hat? The wind picked it up."

"Sure! Hang on." He responded on reflex before bending down and grabbing the hat's brim in his hand. A million thoughts raced through his mind. Had they done it? Had they chased it off?

Had they won?

He took a step towards the house and felt a twig snap beneath his foot.

The picturesque scene around him faded away like mist with the rising sun. The birdsong and sunlight and scents all faded into nothingness before his very eyes. He was still in the woods, still in the darkness...

...and still very much in danger.

He'd only realized that his lovers hat was still held tight in his hand when an enormous bonfire leapt to life before his eyes. He jumped back on instinct and recoiled from the intense flames. The light made the clearing seem much larger than it had seemed previously.

Two familiar figures stood on the opposite side of the fire, their backs to him.

Mabel.

Stan.

Overcome with joy, he opened his mouth to say something... and watched in horror as the hat fell into the flames before him.

As the hat curled and blackened in the intense heat, the two figures turned as one to face him. They all smiled at him with the same blank smile.

Their eyes were gone, replaced by gaping empty sockets.

Dipper's breath caught in his throat and he whirled to run into the darkness, to get away from the nightmare that his family had become.

Six more figures exited the woods and blacked his path.

Soos

Tambry.

Robbie.

Nate.

Lee.

Thompson.

They all wore the same blank smile.

All their eyes were missing.

Dipper could only watch in horror as his friends and comrades joined his family by the fire. The maddening beat began once again and the seven figures began to... dance. They cantered and whirled and spun in an awful dance of death around the bonfire. Their feet kept time with the beat and their undead revelry seemed to draw more figures from the dark woods. More and more came with each passing second to join the terrible dance.

Gravity Falls' missing children.

Candy Chu and her family.

Grenda.

Pacifica Northwest.

Gideon and Bud Gleeful.

Numerous people came that he did not recognize but could only be the once proud residents of cities like Portland, Pendleton, Prineville, Shaniko, The Dalles, Tillamook, Troutdale, West Linn..."

Hundreds of thousands of people came and joined the dance.

All wore the same smile.

All had no eyes.

The smoke from the bonfire began to coalesce into a definite shape. The man's body was impossibly thin, it's coat as black as the night sky, save a single red drop on it's chest. The shape observed the dancers and almost seemed to conduct the grisly beat with it's uncountable waving tentacles. The Slender One, now almost too large for Dipper to comprehend, peered down at the small boy with it's blank and uncaring face.

Dipper, his mind long gone, didn't have even the strength left to scream. He whimpered like a baby as he wet himself, tears streaming down his face.

The monstrous tentacles stopped conducting and the beat stopped with them. The dancers all froze and, as one, turned to face the shattered detective.

The tentacles pointed at him.

Still smiling their horrible smile, still staring at him with eyes that were no longer there, they advanced on him.

Dipper's eyes never left the Slender One's face.

They fell upon him.

/

It occurred to Wendy just before her leg snapped that maybe they should have taken tree roots into their running plan.

She screamed and tumbled to the floor, clutching at her fractured limb. She rolled to a stop and cried out again as she landed on the injury. Adrenaline and fear flooded her and she tried to stand and run, only to fall and cry again as the leg gave out fully. She rolled to the side and looked around in the pitch black. "DIPPER!" She yelled. "TAMBRY! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!"

At first, her only answer was silence.

Then a steady and rhythmic beat.

Wendy began to hyperventilate and tried again to put pressure on the leg. This time the pain was so great that she couldn't even scream. She shrugged off her backpack and searched frantically a an extra match to light her lantern . Her arm got tangled in one of the straps and she flung it off absent-mindedly...

Her arms.

A smile crossed her face and she gripped the lantern in her teeth and raised her left arm above her head ready to take climb the nearest tree the instant her lantern was lit. Finding her prize, she gripped the match and scratched it along the tanned leather of her bag.

The light revealed the impossibly thin man standing over her, regarding her with it's pale, blank face.

Wendy found it in herself to scream one more time. The match fell to the ground.

She blacked out before the flame had even burned out.


	4. Chapter 4

 

Wendy's eyes snapped open as the redhead took a deep breath of air, but quickly closed her eyes again as the brightness of the sunlight briefly blinded her. Her eyes still closed, she slowly tried to stand up, but let out a light cry of pain as her broken leg sent a bolt of pain shooting down her back. Falling back down to the ground with a light 'thud', she lay there in silence. Not even birds were chirping. After a few moments, she slowly cracked her eyes open again, and squinted as the light blinded her once again. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she slowly sat up. Gathering her thoughts together, she fully opened her eyes and looked around. Trees surrounded her, but yet, she wasn't in the same forest as last night.

Last night. Shooting to her feet, ignoring the pain coursing through her whole body. She cupped her hands over her mouth, and called around.

"DIPPPPEEERRR!"

Her own coarse voice echoed around her. A few moments later, after hearing only the wind and her fading echoes, she tried again.

"DIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRR!" When that had no effect, she tried, "TAMBBBBRRRRRYYYY!" Still nothing. "anybody ?" She called weakly.

Slumping back down on the ground, she choked back a sob as she placed a trembling hand on her forehead. Suddenly, she began to sob loudly, as all the pain she had had accumulated from the previous night slapped her in the face. Her head was throbbing, her broken leg was screaming with the slightest movements she made, and she was covered in bruises and cuts. Her clothes were battered and torn, and her mental state was slowly breaking. After a few minutes, the tears stopped flowing, and she looked around.

To her left, she noticed a big, two story house. Slowly getting up, her leg flared in pain but she ignored it and carried on as best she could. Slowly, she hobbled her way to the house, but stopped when she felt something brush against her foot. She looked down and saw that her foot had bumped into a flashlight. Picking it up, she pointed it beneath the house and click the light on. A bright light enveloped the darkness and Wendy felt some for her fears vanish. But only some.

Wendy noticed something propped up against the base of the house. A large, straight stick. Slowly she limped over and grabbed it. She placed her weight on it and sauntered on. It was unconventional, but it would do.

As she walked, she noticed a building in the distance. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was a factory type building. She didn't know why, but she felt something telling her to go in. Her curiosity peaked, she made her way towards the entrance. Darkness greeted her as she made her way in, but the shadows vanished as the teen clicked on the flashlight, her footsteps echoing against the hard pavement. Wendy shivered slightly as she looked around in the darkness. Noticing an open door to her right, she stepped through and shined the light in the room. A blinding light flashed in front of her eyes and briefly stunned her. When she regained her senses, she noticed the thing the stunned her.  
  
A large sign hung to a chain link fence in the inside of the room. Taking a closer look, Wendy noticed that it read:

_'WARNING!'_

_'IN THE EVENT OF SUDDEN POWER LOSS'_

_All employees must be removed from the mines via emergency lift as soon as possible._

_To power the lifts, please activate the emergency generators throughout the ground level of this complex. Six generators are the minimum required to power the lift at full capacity. Please see you supervisor if you need help locating them.'_

Wendy sighed inwardly. _'Help locating them. Sure!'_ She rolled her eyes and looked around the dimly lit room. So far she saw nothing else that would . . . _'Wait . . .'_

She noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like . . . Another note. Her knees shaking slightly, she walked to where the note was and picked it up with shaking hands.

_'I am okay Wendy._

_The woods are beautiful_

_Please come see_

_I am going to find YOu_

_sO yOu CAn SEE_

_iT's so beAutIfUL WEnDy'_

She threw down the note and shivered. Wendy turned her head away to stop herself from reading the note again. Slowly, she made her way on. Passing through an open door, she shined the light around the vast space. Arrows litter the floor and walls, the words 'GET TO THE TOWER' and 'NEED TO GET TO THE TOWER' were on opposite sides of the wall. A row of arrows covered the ground a led to an elevator in the corner.

Wendy noticed a large object sitting near the elevator. Approaching it closer, she noticed it was a large, yellow generator, with a key already turned in the ignition. She reached out her hand and grabbed a hold of the starter cord and pulled as hard as she could. The engine sputtered for a few seconds, and stopped. Dead. Wendy ran a worrying hand through her hair and tried again.

Three tries later she was on the verge of a panic attack. She grabbed the cord again and was about to pull, when she noticed a large red container in a corner not too far from the generator. Slowly, she approached the canister and looked it over. It looked . . . A gas can? Noticing a cap on the spout, she opened it and took a whiff. A strong, heavy odor filled her nostrils as she started coughing. 'Yep', she thought 'It's definitely gas.'

Putting two and two together, she looked at the generator and found the fuel opening. With a heave, she lifted the canister and poured the gas in the generator. Waiting a few seconds, she pulled the cord again. The generator began to sputter and with a plum of smoke, came to life.

Light filled the area as Wendy looked around. In the corner, she saw a huge lift with white chalk arrows pointing up towards the opening. Loud grinding noises pounded in her ears as the metal doors slid open. Her breath trembling, she sauntered forward towards the nearest open door.

It was just about as dark past the door she chose as the rest of the halls. Sparse light flickered from the barely functioning safety lights, and they were more for detection than illumination. There wasn't much to make distinction between the shadows around her. Only her flashlight broke away the tyrannical grip of shadow around her.  
Wendy noticed that part of the wall gave away at one point. She gazed down it with her flashlight. There, at the bottom of a small set of metal stairs was another generator. _Stupid placement for these things_ she thought. But her actions did not allow her to waste breath on such things. She had to keep moving.

She swore someone was watching her. The small hairs on her neck spiked and stood up as she turned around once, looking for a source of the anxiousness. There wasn't anything behind and above her.

A few pained steps down, dragging that stupid can along with her, and she found the fuel slot for the generator. She had to put the flashlight down for a second, letting it shine just past her shoulder as she lifted the gasoline up and into its respected hole.

A pebble fell behind her.

She slammed the gas can to the floor and spun with her flashlight. There was a hallway behind her, underneath the stairs.

Wendy opened her mouth to speak, yet halted. If there was something else in here, maybe drawing attention to herself was not in her best interests. So she silently scanned past the borders of her room. Nothing was moving.

Her head started to hurt, but she shrugged off the pain.

Turning back slowly, she lifted up the gas and poured what little needed to go into the generator. Locking the cap back on with a quick twist, Wendy slammed her fist into the power button. It whirred to life, and several of the lights, dim and unimpressive with their light flickered, but did not radiate with strength as she had hoped.

Wendy sighed and turned her gaze back to the stairs.

She then screamed.

It was there, standing at the top, looking down on her.

Broken legged be damn! The redhead would not stop running, screaming in agony as she hobbled away as quickly as she could make it with only one leg. Wendy swore loudly as a particularly sharp jolt of pain had her hands slip their grips. The flashlight tumbled away and the canister fell to her side. She felt and smelled the gasoline spill around her, but she needed the flashlight more than anything else. With a roar of pain, she bent down, lifted the source of light up, and looked back once.

It was gone. It hadn't followed her.

Like she was going to fall for that though. It had played it's game with her once, and she was ready for it. Feeling next to her, she grasped for a large lead pipe. Heavy and clunky, she tore it from its rest, and spun around.

There it was.

"DIE!" she screamed and threw it towards the monster.

The pipe soared through the air, and like a charm, the moment it would have touched the monster, bending over slightly to fit inside the cramped space, the suited beast vanished.

"Huh?" Wendy gasped. The pipe clattered to the floor. It was gone. It had been there, and like the blink of an eye, it had left her. Wendy spun around again. Still nothing. She spun yet again, and still could not see it.

Had... had she...

Dared Wendy think she killed it?

No. Wendy Corduroy was a survivor, and survivors always played on the edge of safety. She couldn't let herself believe that it would be done with her just like that. Flashlight guiding her, she continued on.

Lucky to her, just past the corridor, there was a gas can propped right against another generator. "Yes," Wendy cried aloud, and commanded her arms to pour away. Slosh, slosh, slosh, drop the can, and slap the red button. The lights flickered again, stronger but not resolute. She would need to find more. Progress was made clearly, but she needed to continue.

Several minutes later, Wendy's arms were throbbing with pain.

The two generators she found after the first were relatively easy to locate, the hard part was lugging around the gas cans to the generators to power them. And now she was lugging a fourth one to another generator. The third had been tucked under stairs, and the can for that had been down a hall. These things were getting heavier.  
Wendy's flashlight caught the reflective material of a sign. She turned her tired, scared eyes to the poster, and was shocked at what she found.

It was a yellow metal sheet warning workers to keep their helmets on, but it had been altered. The top two corners had been entirely removed, cut at angles from the middle of the poster down to the bottom two corners, effectively creating a triangle. Something had been cut through the middle of the sheet, providing a single line through it.

"The hell?"

Wendy stared at it, illuminating the object. It was something she swore she had seen before- in a life long before all of this hell. Something had been carved into the concrete below the sign, almost like scratch marks.

_'Still watching'._

But she heard something from far off. It was soft and rapid, like... Footsteps.  
  
Setting down the canister, she shined her flashlight in the darkness. "Hello?" she called. She listened more closely as she heard the footsteps grow closer. But she also heard something else.

It sounded like something was angry. It sounded like growling.

Setting down the gas can, she walked towards the center of the room ahead of her, and listened. The growling grew closer as Wendy's eyes widened. Grabbing the can, she moved as fast as she could, lugging the heavy can behind her. As she approached the room the world turned upside down as she was thrown away from the room.

Before she could register what was happening, pain racked her body. Wendy felt impacts against her body in quick, visceral bursts of pain. 'Is someone punching me?!' As if someone was beating her, small fists pounding on her body. Flinging her arms out wildly, she suddenly felt the fists stop.

Wendy laid on the floor, shivering with fear. Tears streamed down her face as she felt the pain on her body increase. She didn't want to move. Her bones ached and her leg felt like it was on fire. Suddenly, her hand brushed against the flashlight laying on the floor. She dragged her hand against the ground and grabbed the flashlight, groaning in pain. Crawling on the floor, she dragged herself to the edge of the wall and hoisted herself up. She let out a yelp as she felt her ankle give out beneath her. Tears streamed down her face as she stood there in silence. "What the fuck was that?" she asked with a tremble in her lips.

She sniffed loudly, wiping her face with the back of her and stopped short as a brief, searing pain ran through her nose. With a low yelp, she gently poked the base and yelped again as another jolt of pain hit. Sighing, she looked over her shoulder and noticed the gas can sitting on the floor where she dropped it before she was...

Wendy shivered, trying not to think about it. Slowly she made her way towards the can and picked it up. Entering the room, she saw the generator in the corner. Lifting the can, she poured the gas in the machine and tugged on the cord, the engine sputtering to life as the lights came on. All of a sudden, she was blinded, and her hands went to cover her face as she dropped to the floor, gasping. The light was so bright! She though that it would be welcoming, but as she opened her eyes, she felt a strong nauseating sensation overtake her. Stumbling around in the room, she walked out and made her way towards the railing near the room. Leaning on it for support, she felt a pulling sensation in her stomach as tried not to vomit. But try didn't work.

Dropping to her knees, the girl coughed up the contents of her stomach, as the strong taste of acid and remnants of her lunch filled her mouth. She kneeled there continuing to vomit, feeing as if she was trying to hurl out her insides. Suddenly, it stopped. Wendy opened her eyes, unaware that she had even shut them, and gasped as she saw a dark red color cover the floor, her hands and knees. "Did I just. . . . . vomit blood?!" Tears filled her eyes once again as she knelt in silence. "What's happening to me?"

Without another thought she stood up, pushing herself as quickly away as she could move away from the splattering around her knees. All that there, around her and now staining her jeans, it all was her blood. She had vomited a... a lot of blood.  
  
Her eyes finally adjusted to the new light. Echoes of what sounded like power-registration units blasted around the halls, loud thumps against the stone and concrete walls.

That was a good sign to get onto the damn elevator and leave. Flashlight in hand, Wendy looked around her. The halls to choose from were not indicating the proper exit. She would need to pick one and stumble her way out without indication. So she chose the furthest right hall. The leg of her broken foot scraped a little against the ground as she walked through the now lit halls.

The lights ahead flickered and exploded. It was unnaturally dark ahead of her.  
  
She gasped and pointed the light dead ahead.

It was there.

"NO!"  
  
Wendy spun, digging her operational foot into the ground and pushing herself ahead with each step. She could feel more bulbs explode, one at a time behind her. This thing only worked in darkness, but it had the power to create that shadow now. There was no natural light she could run to down here.

She was back inside the room and before she had a chance to choose a direction to leave, she saw someone. Clothed, with a hat, running towards her.

"Dipper!" Wendy gasped, the world lifting itself from the pits of hell just a smidgeon.  
He did not reply. He was running at her at his best speed. She couldn't see his face, he was barreling down at her.

Growling.

Pitter-patter.

"Wait, Dipper?" Wendy called ahead. Those sounds had come back, but they were coming from the approaching twelve year old. Not from the lit hallway next to her, or behind her, but ahead. Dipper was there.

Dipper was making those sounds. He was the one running at her.

He had attacked her earlier.

"Dipper!" she shouted, and dived aside. "Bud, what the hell!?" The boy had lunged for her, hands outstretched to claw at her face. He fell past her as she landed to the side, and pulled herself up painfully. As Wendy turned and started retreating down the hall, she saw him pull himself back up as well, and peer after her.

"No, Dipper," Wendy gasped.

His eyes were black, empty sockets. His mouth was almost a blur. It wasn't growling she had heard, but incoherent babble and mad spluttering of words and sounds. Hisses, snarls, a language of evil and insanity was being spoken by the kid she would have been the girlfriend to.

Her future boyfriend. The boy who was now running at her was the only person alive who she had shared a bed like that. The only being alive she let touch her like that. The only one ever who had stood up for her silently without her watching. He had admitted his love for her before.

Tears streamed down her face as she turned and ran.

There was nothing left of the boy she loved in that body.

Even with her injured leg, she could keep ahead of him. Hobbling and turning back to check on his progress, she saw him again and again. His features hadn't just been altered, but added to. Long dark marks were made around his eyes, either dark lines from paint or pen, or coagulated blood turned into some sort of sickening war paint.  
She turned another hallway, knocking over piles of crates and pipes behind her.

Stumbling backwards as she did. Dipper, or whatever he had become, leapt over several of the boxes, but tripped on the pipes. His face hit the floor brutally, and blood splattered out. Wendy spotted, holding a hand to her face. His movement had slowed, and the insane muttering stopped.

Dipper slowly lifted his head, grinning. Blood fell from his nose and mouth.

"Let me show you," Dipper's words gargled out as he coughed up copious amounts of blood, more than should have been caused by a simple trip. "...show you it."

Wendy turned and left him behind. She couldn't watch him. It. Anything relating to that boy. He had become a monster, just like the tall thing.

Then the hallway opened up into the primary operations room, and just ahead of her was the elevator. It was waiting for her, calling to her like an imaginary friend, telling her to get on, quickly, escape!

She followed the internal cries of her mind, and she pulled the metal grates closed. The lights around her were exploding, and she turned to see it. Then she screamed. Dipper was there, staring at her, his hands against the now closed grates.  
  
"It... shows us..." he told her, his eyes pitch black.

"Dipper..."

Wendy's words echoed softly as the lights behind Dipper burst one after another. The grin on his face faded, and he then started to step back. Closer and closer towards the darkness.

"It'll come for you... Wendy," Dipper told her darkly as her platform started to rise.  
"Dipper! Run away from it!" she warned him as black, shadowy tentacles emerged from the shadows, "DIPPER! RUN!"

"Hide... and go seek," Dipper replied and began to laugh. Whatever sanity he had gathered from his encounter with Wendy had left him.

The last thing Wendy saw of her former boyfriend was his arms raising up to his sides, and then a swarm of tentacles wrapping around him.

"NO! DIPPER!"

The elevator raced upwards, cutting through the stony heart of the mountain, and came to a sudden stop. Pain flared through Wendy as the inertia caught in her leg, and she fell forward, tossing her flashlight ahead. Still lit, it rolled just a few feet before her watering eyes. All she could think about was what she had just left behind.

Even in the darkest thoughts of what she had considered to do to keep him at bay, Wendy still considered the possibility of Dipper being savable. He could be fixed. Repaired.

Magic was alive in this world, and she could have found a way to lift that darkness.

But he was consumed by it. He was dragged back inside the maw of the enemy, The Tall One.

The Slenderman.

Look up, the air here smelled fresh. She could hear the distant whistle of wind. With a push off her leg, she continued on. She would have to bury Dipper in her mind later.

* * *

_So._

_Proxdip_ _._

_I don't care who does it, I wanna see fan art of Slender Proxy-Dipper. That is now a thing._


End file.
